8. Name two significant characteristics of effective project managers?
ANSWER: Any of the following: lead by example, are visionaries, are technically competent, are decisive, are good communicators, are good motivators,
stand up to upper management when necessary, support team members, and encourage new ideas
9. What are the three main processes of integration management?ANSWER:project plan development, project plan execution, and integrated change control
10. What is the main purpose of a project plan? ANSWER: to facilitate action or guide project execution
11. What project management tool can you use to help manage relationships with different people involved in your project? ANSWER:a stakeholder analysis
12. What is the main reason why firms invest in information technology projects? ANSWER: to support explicit business objectives
13. If you have three independent projects with NPVs of $100, $400, and -$100, which project(s) would you recommend based solely on the NPV?
ANSWER: Recommend the project with an NPV of $100 and the one with an NPV of $400. Both are profitable. If you must choose one project,
recommend the project with the highest NPV
$400 in this example.
14. What document formally recognizes the existence of a project? ANSWER: a project charter
15. What is the main output of the scope definition process and is also an outcome-oriented analysis of the work involved in a project that defines the total
scope of the project? ANSWER: a WBS
16. What is the most common type of task dependency? ANSWER: Finish-to-start
17. What is the critical path on a project? ANSWER: The critical path is the series of activities in a project network diagram that determines the earliest
completion date of the project
18. What is PERT? ANSWER: PERT is a network analysis technique used to estimate project duration when there is a high degree of uncertainty about the
individual activity duration estimates. The PERT weighted averages formula is on pg. 141.
19. What is the first step in project time management? ANSWER: Activity definition
20. According to the 1995 CHAOS study, what was the average cost overrun on IT projects? What was it in the 2001 study? ANSWER: 189 percent in the
1995 study; 45 percent in the 2001 study
21. Suppose you sell 10 widgets per day on average, and the average cost per widget is $10. If you sold 11 widgets one day, what would the affect on profits
be? ANSWER: There is not enough information to answer this question. You are given costs and asked to estimate profits. You do not know what the
average profit is per widget. You might lose money by selling more widgets.
22. What is another name for earned value? ANSWER: BCWP or budgeted cost of work performed
23. Define quality and what is meant by stated and implied needs. ANSWER: Quality is the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to
satisfy stated or implied needs. Stated needs are formally communicated either verbally or in writing. Implied needs mean the product is fit for use or can
be used as it was intended.
24. Who created fishbone diagrams, and what are they used for? ANSWER: Ishikawa developed fishbone diagrams, and they are used to trace complaints
about quality problems back to the responsible production operations to find the root cause.
25. Which is better, 3 sigma, 4 sigma, 5 sigma, or 6 sigma? ANSWER: 6 sigma. There are less defective units as sigma increases. See Table 7-2 on pg. 209
for the relationship between sigma and the number of defective units.
26. Give an example of a hygiene factor, according to Herzberg. ANSWER: Answers could include a more attractive work environment, training, or fringe
benefits such as a good parking space or casual dress, and so on. Herzberg also says that money is a hygiene factor.
27. What type of chart is used to show resource loading? ANSWER: A histogram
28. What do the letters RAM stand for as they relate to project human resource management? ANSWER: Responsibility Assignment Matrix
29. What ways to have influence are correlated with successful projects? ANSWER: Expertise and work challenge
30. What is the formula for determining the number of communications channels? ANSWER: number of communications channels = (n(n-1))/2
31. Which mode for handling conflicts is favored by project managers? ANSWER: Confrontation mode, which is also known as problem-solving mode.
32. What is the difference between a status report and a performance report? Give an example of each. ANSWER: A status report describes where the
project stands at a specific point in time. An earned value analysis is an example of a status report. A progress report describes what the project team has
accomplished during a certain period of time. A weekly activity report is an example of a progress report.
33. What are the most important success criteria for information technology projects, according to the Standish Group? ANSWER: User involvement,
executive management support, and a clear statement of requirements.
34. If a project has a 50 percent probability or making $100 and a 50 percent probability of making no money at all, what is its expected monetary value?
ANSWER: $50
35. What does risk mitigation mean? Provide an example of how to mitigate risk on a project. ANSWER: Risk mitigation means reducing the impact of a
risk event by reducing its probability of occurrence. An example of mitigating risk on a project would be to assign a very experienced project manager to a
project to mitigate the risk of poor management.
36. Approximately how big (in dollars) is the information technology outsourcing market expected to be in the year 2003? ANSWER: $110 billion
37. What type of contract has the least amount of risk for the buyer? ANSWER: Firm fixed price